Ellen and Ricardo were, for some time, gazing at the garden absentmindedly .

「A, Aniue . 」

「「Ah . He came back . 」」

Yuri finally coming back, the voices of the two aligned when they talked .

「A, Aniue, I, I am, umm, 」

Yuri’s mouth flapped open and close, but, as before, no words came out .

「Yuri, you don’t have to rush to give your answer . Think it over slowly . Even I had said too much about various things too abruptly . It might take time, but if it’s you, you will most certainly find the answer . I will follow Ellen-jou’s example and wait patiently as well . 」

As Ricardo says so, he gently pats Yuri’s head with one hand .

Yuri’s eyes widened .

Ellen once again left her seat, and went close to Yuri .

「Yuri, you came back properly . ( ´ゝ)

I believed you would definitely come back . ( ´_ゝ)

Ah . Also, thank you for sticking up for Ellen a while ago .

Yuri is tedious and hesitatingly bothersome but a good guy . ( ´ゝ`)」

Ellen foolishly laughed, tiptoed, and, imitating Ricardo, reached out and patted Yuri’s head gently .

「Now that we have received the answer to the question, and Yuri has already come back, it’s about time…… Yuri !! ??」

As she was saying it was about time to go hide and seek, Ellen was shocked and spoke loudly .

Patted on the head by Ellen and Ricardo, large drops started to well up in Yuri’s eyes .

「Ellen didn’t pat you that hard !?! If anyone hit you then it’s Oniisan?!?」

「No no, I didn’t pat him hard either . Or rather, he began crying when Ellen pat him . 」

In contrast to Ellen who was frantically a.s.serting her innocence, Ricardo was smirking as he calmly retaliated .

While that pa.s.sing of the blame was going on, Yuri’s tears gradually turned from 『poro poro (large drops)』 to 『boro boro (tears falling)』that became 『daaー (a stream of tears)』 .

Yuri finally wailed .